What is multiple sclerosis (MS)?
Being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis can be overwhelming. You may be experiencing a whole range of confusing emotions such as anger, shock or denial. You probably have a lot of questions and don't know where to turn to get the answers. But most importantly, you want to know how having MS will affect your life.
"Knowing that there were other people who were going through the same thing and understood, saved my life."
We at the MS Society want to help you understand what your diagnosis means. Being well-informed makes you better able to cope with the inevitable changes having MS will make to your lifestyle.
Why have I got MS?
Developing MS is not your fault and has nothing to do with lifestyle or behaviour. Although no-one is certain why people get MS, research suggests that it is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Approximately 85,000 people in the UK have MS, that's about one in every 800-1000 people. The majority of the people with MS are diagnosed with the condition when they are aged between 20 and 40. It's almost twice as common in women as men.
You didn't catch multiple sclerosis, you developed it. In simple terms MS occurs when there is damage to the protective material myelin around the nerves in the central nervous system. When myelin is damaged, messages from your brain to your body are slower or do not get through at all, causing the symptoms of MS.
MS is an autoimmune condition. This means that your immune system attacks your own body. Normally the immune system helps to fight off infections but in MS it mistakes your own body's tissue, myelin and nerve fibres in particular, as foreign.
The myelin damage leaves nerve fibres partially or completely exposed, with scars known as lesions or plaques. This lack of protection then disrupts messages travelling along the nerve fibres. Messages can slow down, become distorted, pass from one nerve fibre to another (short circuiting), or not get through at all.
As well as myelin loss, there can sometimes be damage to the actual nerve fibres. It is this nerve damage that causes the accumulation of disability that can occur over time.
As the central nervous system links all bodily activities, many different types of symptoms can appear in MS. The specific symptoms that appear depend upon which part of your central nervous system is affected and the job of the damaged nerve.